The section describes the rules for scoring a Destination Imagination® tournament. It includes the following topics:
Destination Imagination offers a series of challenges to each of five age or grade levels. At each tournament, the teams solving a particular team challenge at a particular level compete with all of the other teams solving the same challenge at the same level. For example, at a regional tournament, all teams solving the structure team challenge at the elementary level compete only against each other.
Teams in different challenge levels do not compete against each other.
If there are too many teams in one challenge level in your tournament to be seen on the same site by the same set of Appraisers, two separate competitions may be conducted. In that case, an individual team still competes against only teams in that same challenge and level, but two separate winning teams or groups of teams should be advanced to the next level of competition, one from each separate competition site! The DI Scoring Program may be configured for this situation - see More than one Site for a Challenge Level for more details.
The scores that the appraisers award to a team are called raw scores. These raw scores are then combined into subtotals for each challenge. Then, the challenge scores are scaled before being combined into a final score.
Scaled scoring is like grading on a curve. To scale a set of scores, you set the highest earned score equal to the highest possible score and distribute the rest of the scores proportionally.
To scale a set of scores:
For example, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
For example, 5, the actual score, is set to 100, the maximum score.
For example, 100/5 = 20.
For example:
| Raw score | Scaled score |
|---|---|
| 5 | 100 |
| 4 | 80 |
| 3 | 60 |
| 2 | 40 |
| 1 | 20 |
A team's final score has the following main components:
Each main component score is the sum of the raw scores all of the elements that make up the main component less any deductions. Each main component score, except for Other Deductions, is scaled before being summed.
A team's final score is computed as follows:
| Scaled Central Challenge score
+ Scaled Team Choice Elements score + Scaled Instant Challenge score - Other Deductions = Final Score |
Let's look at an example of a typical challenge level with five competing teams, A - E. The teams have the following raw scores:
| Team | Raw Central Challenge less deductions |
Raw Team Choice Elements less Deductions |
Raw Instant Challenge less Deductions |
Other Deductions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 155 | 48 | 70 | 0 |
| B | 175 | 35 | 90 | 10 |
| C | 110 | 40 | 50 | 0 |
| D | 135 | 45 | 60 | 1 |
| E | 180 | 42 | 80 | 0 |
The scale-factor for the Central Challenge is:
240 = Maximum possible points for Central Challenge, divided by
180 = Maximum component raw score for this challenge level (Team E)
Therefore, 1.3333 = (240 / 180) is the scale factor for Central Challenge for this challenge level.
The scale factor for Team Choice Elements is:
60 = Maximum possible points for the Team Choice Elements, divided by
48 = Maximum component raw score for Team Choice Elements for this challenge level
(Team A)
Therefore, 1.2500 = (60 / 48) is the scale factor for Team Choice Elements for this challenge level.
The scale factor for Instant Challenge is:
100 = Maximum possible points for Instant Challenge, divided by
90 = Maximum component raw score for Instant Challenge for this challenge
level (Team B).
Therefore, 1.1111 = (100 / 90) is the scale factor for Instant Challenge for this challenge level.
Now, multiply each component raw score by the component scale factor to produce each of the scaled scores for Team A:
| Team A | |
|---|---|
| Scaled Central Challenge | 206.662 = 155 X 1.3333 |
| Scaled Team Choice Elements | 60.000 = 48 X 1.2500 |
| Scaled Instant Challenge | 77.778 = 70 X 1.1111 |
Using the formula in the previous section, we can now compute Team A's total score:
| Team A | |
|---|---|
| Scaled Central Challenge | 206.66 |
| + Scaled Team Choice Elements | 60.00 |
| + Scaled Instant Challenge | 77.78 |
| - Other Deductions | 0.00 |
| Total | 344.44 |
The following table shows the scaled scores for all teams:
| Team | Scaled
Central Challenge |
+ | Scaled
Team Choice Elements |
+ | Scaled
Instant Challenge |
- | Other
Deductions |
= | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 206.66 | + | 60.00 | + | 77.78 | - | 0.00 | = | 344.44 |
| B | 233.33 | + | 43.75 | + | 100.00 | - | 10.00 | = | 367.08 |
| C | 146.66 | + | 50.00 | + | 55.56 | - | 0.00 | = | 252.22 |
| D | 180.00 | + | 56.25 | + | 66.67 | - | 1.00 | = | 301.92 |
| E | 240.00 | + | 52.50 | + | 88.89 | - | 0.00 | = | 381.39 |
There are two types of scored items.
The score for a subjective item represents an appraiser's opinion and, as such, Destination Imagination rules require that at least two appraisers offer independent opinions of the score. Each appraiser selects a score from a specified range, usually 1-30, and then these subjective scores are averaged. The raw score for a subjective item is this average of the scores assigned by each appraiser. Normally the lowest score assigned for a scoring element which the team makes at least a minimal effort to include in their presentation is one (1). If a team completely omits a scoring element from their presentation, all appraisers must agree that it was omitted and assign that item a score of zero (0).
The score for an objective item either is a measurement or indicates the occurrence of an event. Valid scores for the occurrence of the item must be selected from a list of permissible values, such as 20, 10, or 0. The measurement is reported as measured in the units specified in the challenge. All appraisers must agree on the reported score. The objective scores are not averaged (but would produce the same mathematical result if they were).
By looking at a score sheet, you can tell whether a scored item is subjective or objective.
The general precision rules are as follows:
For example, (17 + 13 + 14) / 3 = 14.667. Enter 14.67 on the master score sheet.
Similarly, in the DI Scoring Program, you should enter manually-averaged values with 3 decimal places. The program then rounds the value to two decimal places for you, and you don't even have to worry about the 'rounding rules.'.
To round a value to 2 decimal places, consider the value in the third decimal place. If the value is 5 or greater, round up. If the value is less than 5, round down.
Teams are tied when their total scaled scores differ by one point or less. In a multi-team tie, teams are tied when their total scaled scores differ from the leading score for that place by one point or less.
| Note |
|---|
| Typically, you don't need to detect ties because the DI Scoring Program does it for you. On the Final Scores Report and the Meet Summary, tied teams are indicated by a T beside the place value. |
In the following example, the scores for Teams D, C, and E are within one point of each other. Also, the scores for Teams B and F are within one point.
Note that although the score for Team A differs from the score for Team E by just 0.05, Team A does not qualify for first place because their score differs from the leading score for that place (Team D) by more than one point.
| Team | Team score | Place |
|---|---|---|
| D | 326.15 | 1 |
| C | 326.12 | 1 |
| E | 325.15 | 1 |
| A | 325.10 | 2 |
| B | 324.01 | 3 |
| F | 323.29 | 3 |
| G | 323.00 | 4 |
Each affiliate establishes their own rules for advancing teams to the next level of competition within the affiliate. Destination Imagination rules specify only the rules for advancing to the Global Final tournament. Generally, each affiliate may send the first place teams for their Elementary, Middle, and Secondary challenge levels to the Global Finals tournament. University Level teams typically compete only in the Global Finals.
The DI Scoring Program can be configured in the Define Tournament Information section to advance either the first N teams (plus any ties) or the first N places (including all ties) to the next level of competition.
There are various techniques for scoring a Destination Imagination tournament. You can:
The information in this topic, along with the score sheets and the challenge descriptions, provide the information required to score a tournament manually. However, since this is a tedious and error-prone exercise, we strongly suggest that you use a computer program to help with the scoring.
The DI Scoring Program, a computer program designed to score Destination Imagination tournaments, is provided free of charge to all affiliates and their representatives. It runs on most computers and is easy to install and master. For more information, see DI Scoring Program.